Clearing a house

ready for sale is a slow process if your parents were both craft minded. It is also emotionally difficult.

I suppose there must be many houses where there are neat and tidy living areas with few possessions. Possibly they have large television sets, a lounge and a couple of arm chairs...and very little else.

This house has always been different. There have been books...and more books. There is the "sewing stuff" my mother had. The Senior Cat never wanted me to throw anything away. 

The only thing we did part with was the sewing machine. We referred to that as the "Boeing 747" because neither of us knew how to use it. It was one of those fancy machines which did embroidery as well. I have no interest in such things. If I had a sewing machine it would need to be something very straightforward - forward, back, zig-zag and a simple buttonhole would be enough. If the needle threaded automatically I could actually use one of those. As it is a former neighbour who was a professional dressmaker took up the Senior Cat's trousers and I did some knitting for her. It was a sensible swap of skills. 

But now I am faced with a mess. The room in which all this was kept was intended to be a small bedroom. It has been gradually filled with things over the years. "Dump it in the sewing room," the Senior Cat would tell me...and I would put whatever it was in there. Later he would be looking for something else and things would get turned over and left. "I'll put it away later" - and of course we never did. 

All this is on top of the sixty or so boxes of books I have now packed. My BIL took sixteen off to my nephew's place yesterday. They will stay there until I move. The rest need to go to a charity "book shed"...and I have still more to pack.

Of course I want to keep my stash of yarn and most of my other craft materials...the problem is I still have nowhere to live.